


The Reel Deal

by Breath4Soul



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: (ಥ﹏ಥ), Backstory, Fluff and Humor, Funny, John - Freeform, Johnlock - Freeform, Johnlock Fluff, Movie Night, Relationship(s), casablanca - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5641219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breath4Soul/pseuds/Breath4Soul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“The day you left, if you knew what I went through! If you knew how much I loved you, how much I still love you!”</i>
</p><p> </p><p>John wets his lips and adjusts in his seat as he watches the man and woman on the screen desperately embrace; exchanging passionate kisses. He can feel the presence of Sherlock behind him as keenly as if the man is perched on his shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>  <b>John begins watching Casablanca and Sherlock joins him. It has a lot of interesting moments that reflect on their life. </b></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Reel Deal

“What are you doing, John,” Sherlock asks as he cuts through the sitting room of 221B. His red dressing coat sweeps out behind him as he quickly crosses to the kitchen. 

John looks up from his seat in Sherlock’s chair. He pulls at his face a bit and sighs.

“Just watching a film on the telly.” John props his elbow on the seat’s arm and settles his hand beside his face, two fingers on his temple and two across his lips, his eyes transfixed to the flickering light of the television. 

Sherlock glances at John, looks at his experiment on the kitchen table, then looks back at John, his eyes narrowing on John. He puts down his beaker. 

He watches John a moment, noting the softness in his features; how his mouth is relaxed and slightly open and his eyes are wide and have the sparkle that is usually reserved for his romantic interests. Sherlock looks down at his beaker again, moving it purposefully.

“What are you watching,” Sherlock calls.

“Uh… don’t know…” John scratches at his eyebrow. “An American flick… think it’s called… Casablanca.”

“As in the largest city in Morocco and Maghreb” Sherlock inquires, his eyebrows furrowing. John’s eyes flick up to Sherlock for a moment. 

“Um… yeah, kind of… but it’s not a _documentary_. More of a… _romance_ … and spy thing.” John purses his lips. “Not really _your thing_.”John’s eyes slide back to the television.

“But it’s _your thing_?” Sherlock’s voice is skeptical. His whole face is drawn in puzzlement.

“Well, _yeah_ …” John’s eyes narrow on the television. “Like you said… _bit of a romantic_ ,” John’s voice gets harsh at the end, and he swallows. Talking about anything to do with the wedding, including the best man’s speech, is still beyond his ability to handle currently.

Sherlock tilts his head. He moves around his scientific equipment a moment longer, then briskly crosses the room to the desk behind John. He opens John’s laptop and begins typing almost before the screen comes up. After a moment the keys fall silent and both men are watching the screen. 

>   
>  _“No, Rick. No, you see, Victor Laszlo is my husband… and was, even when I knew you in Paris.”_  
> 

“Mmm… married _, obvious,_ ” Sherlock’s voice comes from behind John. John doesn’t turn but his eyes roll to the ceiling and he clears his throat. The tapping on the keyboard resumes in earnest.

>   
>  _“Oh, he’s just like any other man, only more so.”_

Sherlock huffs at this. John smiles.

>   
>  _“…If someone loved you very much, so that  
>  your happiness was the only thing that she wanted in the whole world, but she did a bad thing to make certain of it, could you forgive her?”_  
> 

Sherlock’s fingers go still and John feels like he is holding his breath. The air in the room feels heavier for a moment. 

Sherlock’s tapping on the keyboard begins slowly at first, then in a flurry so that John wonders if it even possible to make words at such an unnatural pace. 

The film continues on.

> _“As I suspected, you’re a rank sentimentalist.”_

John turns his head slightly to glance back at Sherlock. Sherlock has a faint smile on his face and is looking down at the keyboard, fingers unmoving. John suspects that somewhere in his gigantic Mind Palace he is filing away “rank sentimentalist” under a file deemed _‘Appropriate Insults for John Watson.’_

> _“The day you left, if you knew what I went through! If you knew how much I loved you, how much I still love you!”_

John wets his lips and adjusts in his seat as he watches the man and woman on the screen desperately embrace; exchanging passionate kisses. He can feel the presence of Sherlock behind him as keenly as if the man is perched on his shoulder.

John and Sherlock continue watching the movie unfold in silence. 

> _“The explanation is quite simple. Love, it seems, has triumphed over virtue…_

Sherlock lets out something guttural, like a growl, as they watch the apparent betrayal unfold. 

John keeps his eyes fixed on the screen, remembering how much disdain Sherlock holds for these type of _deceptions at the hands of love_ when they have arisen in their previous cases.

John makes a surprised grunt as the plot suddenly takes a different turn. The protagonist pulls a gun.

“I’m starting to like _him_ ,” Sherlock hums. John smiles.

>   
>  _“…remember, this gun’s pointed right at your heart.”_
> 
> _“That is my least vulnerable spot.”_

John smirks and glances back at Sherlock, certain that that warrants a spot somewhere in the _‘Sherlock’s Witty Retorts for Bad Guys’_ file in Sherlock’s Mind Palace.

>   
>  _“…You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I’ve done a lot of it since then and it all adds up to one thing. You’re getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.”_  
> 

Sherlock lets out a sound of consideration. He’s now abandoned the premise of the computer to turn facing the screen. His elbows are on his knees and his fingers are steepled, lightly touching his lips. 

>   
>  _“…I said I would never leave you.”_
> 
> _“And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do you can’t be any part of. Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”_

Sherlock makes another sound, like agreement. John turns towards him a bit, watching Sherlock’s reaction as the film winds to an end. 

Sherlock watches with brows arched in interest as the woman gets on the plane, leaving for safety with her husband. The lovelorn protagonist bravely stays behind to face the consequences. 

>   
>  _“Well, Rick, you’re not only a sentimentalist, but you’ve become a patriot.”_
> 
> _“Maybe, but it seemed like a good time to start.”_

Sherlock smiles into his fingers; a slight bob of his head showing his satisfaction with this resolution.

The two men walk down the runway. The heavy fog closing in around them.

>   
>  _“…I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”_  
> 

John smiles and turns to Sherlock. “So… A bit good?” 

Sherlock doesn’t respond. His eyes have gone blank.

“You’ve retreated to your Mind Palace, haven’t you,” John groans. 

Sherlock remains still and absent.

John sighs and turns off the telly. He gets up from Sherlock’s chair and goes to make tea in the kitchen.

 _Three weeks later, on Christmas day, Sherlock shoots Magnussen. A few days later John finds himself standing on the tarmac watching a small plane take Sherlock away, while he and Mary are left in ‘safety.’_

_John’s mind casts about desperately trying to understand... something about it all feels eerily familiar._

**Author's Note:**

> Dec 8 johnlockadventcalendar prompt: The Reel Deal


End file.
